A & J

In a room that was neatly organised with many kinds of documents and timetables laid out on the desk, Alfred calmly continued his work and looked towards the many Sea Snails on the shelf.

He saw that one had begun to make some noise so he picked it up followed with a 'gacha' sound. "What is it?"

The voice on the other side responded. "Boss, we have begun recruitment and signed more dancers, musicians and actors like you have requested. With the growing popularity of miss Ann and miss Aizah, we could rapidly increase the amount of people signed to us."

Alfred already had the documents in front of himself so he looked over them. "Some of them are good but others are not suitable for signing, what we are looking for right now is talent or those that are hardworking that have a good image and no big personality flaws. Look further into their background and past first then get back to me before making any final decisions."

"Got it boss!" 'Gacha!'

Alfred put the Sea Snail back in place and then put on his suit jacket as he left the room.

Upon walking out of the building, a man came running in his direction looking as if he was in a hurry or escaping from someone but as he reached Alfred, he reached into his clothing to grab something.

Noticing his unusual movements, Alfred moved his body away defensively and observed the person who had a confused look on their face but then charged towards Alfred with their hands in the air aiming to grasp Alfred's throat.

Before he could get close enough, something was pressed against his body and a surge of electricity went through his body leaving him stunned and falling to the ground.

Alfred coldly looked at the man and took back the cane in his hands that had been used to subdue him then called out. "I know that you are there so come out."

He was very calm even after facing an assassination attempt and acted quickly to protect himself as if used to these types of situations as if they happened often. "Sigh, it is another one.."

Just as he finished speaking, a figure jumped down from the roof while catching hold of a pipe and sliding down it displaying their acrobatic and climbing abilities to the fullest potential, leaving him completely unharmed after landing.

Jester had appeared before Alfred and displayed his usual cheerful smile but there was two things that had changed about him.

The first was that his body had grown more and added more muscle but his overall build was very balanced and compact allowing more agile movements while the second was his face, his facial features had grown a little more masculine but still retained some of its cuteness and the scars on his face had been tattooed over leaving black markings in the shape of his scars.

Alfred was used to Jester's way of protecting him and sighed. "How many more and what did they use this time?"

"Just one this time." Jester laughed as he took out a pistol and twirled it around in his hand. "It seems that they will even resort to putting guns in the hands of civilians now and letting them do the dirty work."

Although he was laughing and smiling, his eyes were not as they became very cold and murderous. "It may be best to investigate this person's background, who they have met with recently and their family situation. Someone will be here soon so you do not need to call anyone."

Alfred smiled. "Efficient as always."

Jester did not show any changes in his emotions and continued twirling the gun in his hand.

He continued to remember the days of the past by the princess' side as he dealt with many assassination attempts.

The state of the country and the many citizens suffering from sickness and poverty lead to many people being vulnerable to be used as tools for those in power or those behind the scenes so there was often many people who were facing dire circumstances but were given the chance to turn their life around if they completed the assassination.

It wasn't until later that the Princess had cleaned up most of the corruption and dark parts of the country that these types of threats happened less.

He was able to recognise the desperation in the eyes of the man as if he had to complete the task no matter what and it reminded him of the old days by the Princess.

Even after leaving his country, there were still other places that had the same things happening often.

An ordinary man without any real fighting experience but a slightly larger body than most weak people so although he may be well himself, there must be some story behind why he was forced into this.

His rugged clothing did not match up to the value of the pistol so there was suspicion in his heart that someone else may be behind it.

Alfred looked at him and asked. "By the way.. I thought you could only take things you have seen? Lately your abilities do not seem to be what you had previously mentioned."

Jester replied. "Not exactly but you could say that the limitations to the abilities are related to sense or image."

Alfred looked intrigued. "So you mean.."

Jester nodded. "If I know the rough shape of the item and its location then it can be taken but I have to pick it up within one of my senses to do so. For example I can hear a coin drop out of my sight and grasp it since I know what it is and it is registered in my mind."

Alfred frowned. "But you should not have been able to see the gun yet."

Jester shook his head and said. "You forget that I have Observation Haki and have been improving it for a while now. Being able to detect a gun within his clothing was easy which allowed me to take it from their body even if it was hidden."

Compared to the previous user of the Snatch Snatch Fruit, Jester was able to make use of it in much better ways and since he was capable of hiding himself, he could disarm any assailants before they even got close.

He would occasionally let some slip through and not stop them from attacking to allow Alfred a little practice to improve his self defence abilities a little.

Since the opponents let through were unarmed and were not capable of killing Alfred, it allowed for Alfred to get used to these types of situations better.

Not long after they had finished speaking, a group of armed guards appeared to take away the man and saluted Alfred while Jester had already gone back into hiding close by.

White Storm was growing and accumulating business within the entertainment, clothing, children and baby products, self defence tools and many other industries as it continued to grow.

Many others did not like the fast growth of them and feared that White Storm would soon branch out and become their competitors so they wished to stomp them out early when they were still weak and vulnerable but kept failing in their attempts to sabotage or kill the important people within the White Storm.

The White Storm continued to keep up a positive image and always cooperated with the countries officials and law enforcement to expose those groups working against them and using dirty tricks.

However Alfred was also very smart and did not create too many disturbances so when there were times when he was offered a bribe from those in power to no pursue a matter, he had to turn the other way and allow them to handle the rest unless the issue kept repeating itself.

This rarely happened but there were always people who were rich or with high status that were backing those individuals, if those people were imprisoned that could cause problems for business on that island if those of high influence wished to use their power to push the White Storm out.